Pizza’s origins begin with focaccia, the dimpled flatbread that is thought to have been created by pre-Roman Empire Etruscans (via Yahoo!). The first pizza is believed to have originated in Naples, Italy, in the 18th century, when it was considered peasant food. According to six-two, they called it “pizza marinara” in honor of the mariners in the seaside town on the Gulf of Naples.
A lot has changed with pizza since then, so what makes the original 200-year-old Neapolitan pizza recipe so different from the pizza of today? It had no cheese. That’s right. The world’s oldest pizza was vegan.
It didn’t take long for someone to change pizza marinara from cheeseless to cheesy. As six-two reports, that honor goes to Raffaele Esposito, who topped the pizza with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil in 1889. He renamed it pizza Margherita for Queen Margherita after she visited Naples and was given the pizza after she asked for something different to eat. Pizza lost its reputation as peasant food and went from vegan to vegetarian. Since then, for some people, the idea of eating a pizza without cheese has been considered unorthodox and unthinkable.